Friday, July 15, 2011

I'm learning to take deep breaths and cherish each moment. As much as it seemed to take forever, once this big milestone day got here, I realized how fast things are really flying. It's easy for me to say that, and realize that a few days after the fact, but up until 9:00am the morning of July 13th, I thought this day would never come. It was REVEAL DAY! We would find out if we were having a beautiful baby girl or a precious baby boy. Everyone asks "which one do you want?" and how could you not answer with "it doesn't matter. We just want a happy, healthy baby." Of course that is true, but sure, we had different reasons for wanting a boy or girl. We didn't want one over the other...just for different reasons. With a boy, there was the joy of Jer having a son. He does so well with our nephew Grant that I could peacefully and easily envision him with a son. The picture below is a frequent occurrence when they're together. Footballs, basketballs and baseballs are all interchangeable. With a girl, there was all the love and goodness and, well, girlishness that I can master. We have other reasons for each and truly, we would be happy with a boy or girl.

The day of...

We woke up early today. Just like a normal work day. We were going to stay down at my parents tonight and tomorrow. We had to get there early to drop Diesel off before our appointment. I woke up with "Christmas Morning" excitement. It was big. We loaded the car and off we went. After dropping Diesel and our bags off at my parents we headed to the doctor's office. It was a quick appointment. We were called back for the ultrasound. The tech asked me if we were finding out the gender during our visit and I looked at her like she had three heads. I may or may not have blurted out, "um, that is why we're here!" I guess she had other things to check for during this visit. Oops. I laid on the table, cold stuff on my belly and the screen turned away from me. J sat in the chair and strained his eyes to peer at that screen. I stared at the serene view on the light tile above my head. All the while, we talked with the u/s tech about the heat, her pool, why we don't have a pool (power lines), how her daughter was picked for the all star softball team, and a bunch of other things. In the middle of random, space-filling conversation she blurts out "this baby is a GIRL!" I cried. We sort of knew what to expect because at our 16 week appointment I pleaded with our midwife to please check. She did and she gave us her best guess. She was right. The good Lord has blessed us with a baby girl. I wanted to call my momma right away. Of course I could not because I concocted some elaborate plan to have a reveal dinner that night. Silly me! I shared the news with a select few and J and I set out for a day of fun, shopping and girly goodness.

We went to Target and bought a few things - Daddy's Princess outfit, I love Auntie onesie, and a shark bath towel (because Daddy Jer loves sharks.) J also picked out a body pillow for me with a giraffe print cover because he thinks I will need one for comfort in the weeks and months to come.

We spent hours in Buy Buy Baby and Babies R Us. We checked out all the latest and greatest baby gear. We acted like kids and played catch with the balls. We pushed strollers around to see which ones turned the best. J was all over the carseats, checking them up and down. He wants only the best and the safest. Good man.

We even bought our crib and dresser! We didn't plan to, but we fell in love with one and couldn't beat the current price. The same goes for our bedding set. We planned to register for that stuff...bedding, blankets, mobile, lamp...but when we both loved a certain set, and it was on clearance, and it was being discontinued, we decided to snatch it up.

After shopping we headed to lunch. I was hungry. Hungry, hungry. We went to Mongolian BBQ and it was delicious. After lunch we stopped at Partridge Creek. I was actually quite proud of how well I showed self-control. We went to two of my favorite stores and bought only ONE thing at each. Please, applaud me now. That is some serious restraint. First stop, BabyGap. J picked out a little onesie that says "I Love My Mommy" with a print of two bulldogs on it. Awww yeah. It is perfect. Then we had to go to Janie and Jack. Janie and Jack, how I love thee. Upon entering the store I swear the skies open up and you get a glimpse of Heaven. Baby clothes Heaven, that is. We picked out the most perfect little sweater capelet for our baby girl to wear this Fall. Well, next Fall. She will be nestled up in my belly still this Fall.

Shopping done. Let's go to Mom and Dads where we'll share dinner with them, Livi, Grant and my sister Beckey. I made two reveal cakes...one pink, one blue. I had to be prepared either way and didn't want to spend my afternoon baking cakes. We planned to let my mom do the honors of cutting the cake and revealing pink or blue cake underneath the frosting. Everyone gathered around the table and shortly after, bright pink cake was revealed! We're having a GIRL! Dinner followed. It was also delicious. J served up his famous tacos. We ate. We laughed. We loved. Life is good!